Danielle Lucas, Plains States Region Coordinator for the U.S. Public Interest Group, said in a speech Tuesday night at Beyer Hall that Iowa is the ninth biggest contributor of toxic wastes to our waterways.

Lucas has most recently focused her concerns on toxins and how they are transported and used. Toxins refers to both synthetic and organic chemicals, Lucas said.

Carolyn Hartmann, U.S. PIRG Environmental Program Director, reported that American industries have released more than 1.5 billion pounds of toxic chemicals into waterways between 1990 and 1994.

Her report urges Congress to expand citizens’ right to know about toxic chemicals in their communities.

Iowa’s rank as the ninth biggest contributor of toxic waste to our waterways is exclusive of agricultural and domestic animal farm data, Lucas said.

The statistic is strictly based on Iowa’s manufacturing alone and only includes inventory from Iowa’s surface water.

“It’s not that we have a lot of manufacturing plants, it’s just that the ones we do have are horrible as far as pollution is concerned,” Lucas said. “Most of that statistic is the result of the Monsanto plant in Muscatine, Iowa.”

Summer Laws, an active member of the Student Environmental Council, said, “In my opinion, Monsanto is one of the worst [polluting] companies in the world.”

According to Lucas, plants such as Monsanto simply have large pipelines that pump their wastes directly into the water system.

PIRG is currently working to educate the public about issues such as these and to activate change within the the government.

“One in four Americans live within four miles of a hazardous waste site,” Lucas said.

The toxics from this hazardous waste can cause birth defects, cancer, leukemia and other serious health defects, Lucas said.

According to the Winter 1997 U.S. PIRG newsletter, doctors have linked exposure to toxic chemicals such as solvents and pesticides to sterility, spontaneous abortions and other reproductive health disorders.

“We have a right to know if we’re being poisoned in our own backyards,” Hartmann said.

“Seventy-two thousand synthetic chemicals are produced in the country. Only 600 are tracked, which is about 5 percent,” Lucas said. “Dioxin, a serious carcinogen, is not even on that list.”

PIRG is a non-partisan, non-profit public watchdog group formed more than 25 years ago as a result of the involvement of Ralph Nader.

PIRG is involved in various activities such as coalition building, media work and grass roots organizing.

Nader said when he founded the PIRGs, “America has more problems than it deserves and more solutions than it uses.”

“There are chemicals in virtually everything.” Lucas said, “Most of the health effects haven’t even been tested yet, but they’re being used anyway.”

Jeff Hankens, who was also present at the meeting, said he was motivated to take action by setting up a stand in the Memorial Union with postcards for students to send to their local government representatives.

“[Postcards] generate a response. It’s an easy way for people to express a concern without having to take the time to write an individual, hand-written letter,” Hankens said.

Locally, Becker-Underwood, 801 Dayton Ave., has absolutely no contribution to pollution, according to the Toxics Release Inventory.